1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tennis net winder, and in particular, to an improved tennis net winder constructed to withstand the harmful affects of the elements and of weather and presents a positive winding mechanism to withstand the tension placed on it by the net cable.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A tennis net is strung between two upstanding posts, the upstanding posts being firmly embedded in the underlying strata. The tennis net is supported by a cable which runs through a hem in the upper edge of the tennis net, one end of the cable being fixedly secured to one post and the opposing end of the cable being secured to a winch or winder. The winder allows for the selective tension of the cable in order to position the top edge of the tennis net at the correct height for either recreational or competitive play. The winch or winder also allows for the tension to be released from the cable for removing the tennis net when required, such as on grass or clay courts where this occurs at least daily since the court surface must be cut, rolled or manicured.
For many years, the winch or winder was bolted to the exterior surface of one of the tennis posts, and as such, was exposed to weather elements, and hence would oftentimes rust or seize up and lose its mechanical advantage. Further, with the winch or winder mechanism on the exterior of the support pole it presented a possible injurious situation to players rushing the net or to young children since the gear and ratchet mechanism were exposed. Therefore, steps were taken to position the winder mechanism within the support pole with only the winder socket extending from the support post for selective engagement with a removable crank handle. This afforded the winch or winder mechanism slightly more protection from the weather than being mounted exterior to the post, but nevertheless still subjected the winch or winder to the elements. One solution was to fabricate the winder mechanism from a bronze or brass alloy so as to minimize the effect of the weather on the mechanism. The change in material accomplished the task of minimizing the weather effects on the winch or winder, however, the alloy mechanism in conjunction with the design utilized to allow positioning within the support post did not provide the required strength when attempting to retain the required tension on the cable, since a typical tension on a tennis net is from 400 to 450 pounds. The alloy mechanisms would therefore require the frequent replacement of mechanical parts.
Therefore there was a need to fabricate a winder of sufficient strength to deal with the stress of the cable tensioning and to be fabricated in such a manner that the winch or winder mechanism was impervious to the weather elements.